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1 month ago | 
news.bloomberglaw.com | Austin Ramsey |Lauren Clason
The Frances Perkins Department of Labor Building is seen on February 05, 2025 in Washington, D.C. Photographer: Al Drago/Getty Images Print Email March 10, 2025, 9:05 AM UTC Trump Nominee for Benefits Chief Poised to Pivot From Politics Daniel Aronowitz brings insurance executive background to role EBSA focus on ‘political objectives’ distracts from mission, he said President Donald Trump‘s nominee for top private-sector workplace benefits regulator appears eager to abandon hot-button...
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Jan 16, 2025 | 
news.bloombergtax.com | Austin Ramsey |Rebekah Mintzer
Business owners selling their shares in a company to their workers must ensure compliance with a two-part test to ensure employees’ shares are appraised fairly, under a new US Labor Department proposal.
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Jan 14, 2025 | 
news.bloomberglaw.com | Austin Ramsey
Updates to the US Labor Department’s voluntary workplace 401(k) correction program will allow plans to fix delayed contributions and mistaken participant loans on their own without triggering a formal application process.
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Nov 21, 2024 | 
news.bloombergtax.com | Austin Ramsey
A newly unearthed information sharing agreement the US Labor Department maintained with a plaintiffs’ law firm is under fire by GOP lawmakers, after a federal magistrate judge undercut the pact she said would allow regulators to “litigate in the shadows.” Republicans on the House Committee on Education & the Workforce called on the DOL’s inspector general Thursday to investigate the department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration after it shared confidential investigative material with...
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Nov 20, 2024 | 
portfolio.bisanet.org | Austin Ramsey |Gina Heeb |Craig Karmin |Fred Imbert
Insurance companies paid out a record $104 billion in annuity benefits in 2023, up 9% over the prior year as high interest rates and a surge in retirees fueled new sales, according to research by the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI). “Yes it’s a market opportunity, but it’s also an important public policy issue as well in that we want people to have a stable, secure, lifetime income through retirement,” said ACLI President and CEO David Chavern.
Read the full article on Bloomberg Law
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Nov 7, 2024 | 
news.bloombergtax.com | Lauren Clason |Ben Miller |Austin Ramsey
The US Labor Department’s employee benefits regulator under a second Donald Trump presidency is poised to roll back or reverse a series of Biden administration rules governing retirement and healthcare in a callback to priorities set in Trump’s first term. Employee benefit regulations from the past four years will likely be swept out as the new administration pivots to its own agenda, allowing legal battles to overturn some existing rules without sustained efforts to defend them in court.
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Nov 1, 2024 | 
news.bloombergtax.com | Austin Ramsey
Workers can add up to $23,500 to their 401(k) plans beginning next year, up $500 from the 2024 contribution limits, according to the IRS. The slate of new government cost-of-living adjustments announced Friday will mean qualified workplace savers can claim tax advantages on more of their savings, but those limits won’t be extended to individual retirement account holders or older workers wanting to catch up on their savings.
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Oct 24, 2024 | 
bloomberg.com | Austin Ramsey |Diego Munhoz |Parker Purifoy
Boeing Co. workers are doubling down on reviving their legacy pensions, rejecting a labor deal with generous pay packages even as similar union efforts to restore those retirement benefits have failed. Two rounds of negotiations with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers to end a five-week strike have resulted only in offers to boost worker 401(k)s, signaling restoration of pensions axed a decade ago may be more of a bargaining chip than a viable request.
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Oct 15, 2024 | 
news.bloombergtax.com | Austin Ramsey
The US Supreme Court declined to hear a bid by a worker-owned company in Hawaii to recover legal fees from the Labor Department after the government lost a 2021 case alleging its former owners over-valued their shares. Architectural firm Bowers + Kubota Consulting Inc. had hoped the high court would review and overturn a US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruling in favor of the Employee Benefits Security Administration.
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May 30, 2024 | 
news.bloombergtax.com | Austin Ramsey
Uncertainty about the cost and structure of recently authorized pooled-employer retirement plans is driving down participation in an option previously touted as a game changer for the 401(k) industry. Fewer than 300 firms have registered with the US Labor Department to sponsor the plans since they were green lit by Congress in 2019, according to agency data.
